My encouragement to TrueLifers is to cultivate a relationship with the Holy Spirit in 2012.  You can listen to Sunday’s message here: http://blog.mytruelife.org/2012/01/09/the-holy-spirit-week-1-the-person-of-the-holy-spirit-jan-8-2012/

Growing your relationship with the Holy Spirit (like any relationship) takes time and focused energy.  The number one distraction to cultivating this relationship is distraction itself.  We can fill our lives with so much white noise that we can no longer hear the leading of God’s Spirit.

Here is my challenge for this week:

Let the Holy Spirit Guide you this week:

Monday – Begin your prayer time with, “Holy Spirit please help me to pray….” Let the Holy Spirit lead your time.
Tuesday – Begin your day with, “Holy Spirit, please teach me something new about Jesus today”.  Be on the lookout for something new.
Wednesday – Spend at least ten minutes listening to the Holy Spirit
Thursday – Spend a few minutes worshipping the Holy Spirit.
Friday – Invite the Holy Spirit to fill your life with His presence.
Saturday – Invite the Holy Spirit to lead our church as we gather together on Sunday.  Pray for the Holy Spirit to anoint the worship team and Pastor Mark.

Pentecostal Community needs to be discussed.  Here is the simple outline from last night.  I hope it spurs conversation in Chi Alpha & in us.

What does it mean to be a “pentecostal” community?

We must be in community. (Deut 16: 11; Acts 2:1)

To be “in” community you must?
1. have like heart
2. have shared burdens
3. have joint commitment

We must be inclusive (Deut 16:11; Acts 1:13-14)

We must be missional

A Missional Community:
1. Has clear purpose. (John 21:3; Acts 3:6-8)

2.  Brings healing to their community.

3. Is culturally relevant.  (Acts 2:12-13)

4. Remains externally focused.  (Acts 2:14-21)

If you love people who are postmodern creatives, then you need to add this lesson to your to do list.  Cultural Creatives are the idea generators that are changing our culture.  They drive the throughts behind the technology that is driving the mad dash of the metamorphases of cuture.

These creatives are pooling in areas in our country.  They are gathering in cities like San Fransisco, Seattle, Austin, and Raleigh/Durham.

Here is a link to Earl Crep’s Podcast: http://earlcreps.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=278911#

TrueLife Church is a member of the North Carolina Assemblies of God where I was District Youth Director for five years, 2002-2007. I still serve my fellowship in several roles and committees. Some people connected in TrueLife Church come from an Assemblies of God (A/G) background, while others do not.

Part of my job as pastor is to be the guy that brings up the right questions. This one is worthy of our thought & dialog:

What is a “Pentecostal”?

During the past couple of decades three characteristics defined being “Pentecostal”

1. Music Style (Loud & Passionate)
2. Preaching Style (Loud & Passionate)
3. Spiritual Gifts (Loud & Passionate)
   (Do you see a pattern? All you have to do to be pentecostal is turn up the volume)

“Pentecost” in scripture is all about one thing: the harvest.

1. Called » FEAST OF WEEKS (Exodus 34:22; Deuteronomy 16:10)
2. Called » FEAST OF HARVEST (Exodus 23:16)
3. Called » DAY OF FIRST FRUITS (Numbers 28:26)
4. Called » DAY OF PENTECOST (Acts 2:1;20:16; 1 Corinthians 16:8)

The key to being Pentecostal is to live missional lives. Ready to be led by the promptings of the Holy Spirit in order to be a part of bringing in the harvest. Our challenge as pentecostals is that we have a tendency to act as if the day of Pentecost is all about that one moment in time when the baptism of the Holy Spirit arrives. The key to understanding Acts 2 is to keep reading the book of Acts. The initial, physical evidence of the baptism in the Holy Spirit may have been speaking in tongues, but the ongoing evidence was a life focused on evangelism. We have spent too many years focusing on the former to the detriment of the latter.

There are two pathways to transform an organization:

1. The way of Martin Luther: Break away and go outside.

2. The way of St. Francis of Assisi: Transform from the inside.

I sense a calling to walk the pathway of St. Francis of Assisi. TrueLife Church may not look like a 1980′s style pentecostal church (I don’t have the hair for it), but it will look like the first century pentecostal church that depended on the power of the Holy Spirit to lead missional lives.

For all you stat nerds (like me) here is a pdf of the Assemblie of God, USA.